The Edge at the Kid Lit Quiz
On Monday 28th November, three-quarters of The Edge Writers will be in Broxbourne School to take part in the National Kid Lit Quiz. There’ll be six of us there plus ten other amazing authors. The National Kid Lit Quiz is an annual literature contest for kids aged between 10 and 13. It’s run by volunteers - mainly teachers and librarians, in the UK, New Zealand, South Africa and China. Canada and the US are two other countires soon to join. The winning teams qualify for national and world finals.
The Kid Lit Quiz was founded by Wayne Mills , senior lecturer at the University of Aukland, who read enough books to be able to ask several thousand questions each year – without ever repeating a question. He wanted to encourage and motivate kids to read. Statistics showed that reading was declining, so his idea of the ‘sport’ of reading idea was born.
We all want kids to read more. Sometimes it does require a stimulus, an impetus, to motivate and excite kids. Wouldn’t it be great if every school in the UK managed to get a couple of teams together? And even if they didn’t, what if each school ran its own Lit Quiz based on books that are available in the school library, the local library? Yes, a little more money would have to be spent stocking the libraries rather than cutting them, but books should be an essential cost rather than being thought of as luxury items.
Would something like this not have a significant impact in encouraging kids to want to read more?
Here’s a map of the participating countries. How great would it be to have more green on it!
This will be our second Edge event this month - how exciting. Better take our cameras along folks. See you there!!
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